ÁCÁRYA m. OR ÁCÁRYÁ f. Spiritual teacher qualified to teach all lessons of meditation.
AHIḾSÁ. One of the points of morality: to refrain from purposefully inflicting pain or hurt on anybody by thought, word or action.
ANANDA MARGA. Path of divine bliss; ÁNANDA MÁRGA PRACÁRAKA SAḾGHA.
ÁNANDA MÁRGA PRACÁRAKA SAḾGHA. The socio-spiritual organization founded by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar to spread the ideology and spiritual practices of the path of bliss.
ÁRYYÁVARTTA. Lit., “Land of the Aryans”; northern India, which the Aryans at one point occupied.
AVADHÚTA m. or AVADHÚTIKÁ f. Literally, “one who is thoroughly cleansed mentally and spiritually”; a monk or nun of an order close to the tradition of SHAEVA TANTRA.
AVIDYÁ. Ignorance; centrifugal, or extroversial, force; force of repulsion from the Nucleus Consciousness; aspect of the Cosmic Operative Principle which guides movements from the subtle to the crude.

BAULS. A psychology based on Jain TANTRA (which is another name for SHAEVA Tantra) gave rise to the Baul psychology. The Bauls were devotional singers whose devotion seemed to onlookers almost like madness.

DÁYABHÁGA. A system of inheritance in which the heirs’ right of inheritance is subject to the discretion of the father, who has the right to disinherit any of the children. Another feature of this system is the rights of inheritance for women.
DEVII. A goddess, a female deity.
DHARMA. Characteristic property; spirituality; the path of righteousness in social affairs.
DHYÁNA MANTRA. A Sanskrit verse listing the attributes of a deity, to be used for visualizing that deity in meditation.
DIGAMBARA, NIRGRANTHA. Unclothed.

GAOŔIIYA VAEŚŃAVA DHARMA. The Bengalee Vaishnavite religion.

KAYASTHA. A caste.
KIIRTANA. Collective singing of the name of the Lord, sometimes combined with a dance that expresses the spirit of surrender. Some types of kiirtana may involve descriptions of the features of the Lord.
KŚATRIYA. Written as kśatriya, a person whose mentality is to dominate over matter; written as “Ks’atriya”, a member of the second-highest caste in India
KULIINA. Of noble descent.

LIUNGA (LINGA). A cylindrical, aniconic image of Lord SHIVA tracing its origins to phallus worship.

MANTRA. A sound or collection of sounds which, when meditated upon, will lead to spiritual liberation. A mantra is incantative, pulsative, and ideative.
MAUṊGALKÁVYA. Poetic works by different thirteenth- and fourteenth-century poets, aimed at establishing the glory of certain gods and goddesses.
MELBANDHAN. The creation of groups made up of persons having similar defects and virtues. Within such a group, no one could be discriminated against.
MITÁKSARÁ. Mitákśará entails the heirs’ equal rights of inheritance, not subject to the father’s discretion.

PARAMA PURUŚA. Supreme Consciousness.
PURÁŃA. Mythological story with a moral import; educative fiction.

RÁŔH. A land of red (laterite) soil.
RŚI. One who, by inventing new things, broadens the path of progress of human society.

SADÁSHIVA. See SHIVA.
SÁHITYA. Literature; all those literary manifestations of the popular mind that always move along the path of welfare.
SHAEVA, SHAIVITE adj. Following or pertaining to Lord SHIVA and his teachings.
SHAEVA n. Shaivite, a follower of Lord SHIVA.
SHAEVA DHARMA. Shaivism; the theoretical or philosophical side of spirituality as taught by Lord Shiva.
SHAEVA TANTRA. Shiva Tantra; the applied, or practical, side of spirituality as taught by Lord Shiva.
SHIVA, SADÁSHIVA. A great Tantric guru of 5000 BCE who guided society while His mind was absorbed in Consciousness.
SHÚDRA. Written as shúdra, a person with a mentality of physical enjoyment only, a member of the labourer social class; written as “Shúdra”, a member of the lowest caste in India.

TANTRA. A spiritual tradition which originated in India in prehistoric times and was first systematized by SHIVA. It emphasizes the development of human vigour, both through meditation and through confrontation of difficult external situations, to overcome all fears and weaknesses. Also, a scripture expounding that tradition.

VAESHYA. Written as vaeshya, a person of acquisitive mentality, a member of the capitalist social class; written as “Vaeshya”, a member of the second-lowest caste in India.
VAEŚŃAVA. Vaishnavite; pertaining to the Viśńu Cult or Religion.
VARŃÁSHRAMA Four-caste social system.
VIPRA. Written as vipra, a person who controls others by his wits, a member of the intellectual social class; written as “Vipra”, a member of the highest caste in India.